Ignis Fatuus
by miXiZ
Summary: People are disappearing in Dartmoor, UK. What lures the victims into the moor? Mulder and Scully investigate.
1. Chapter 1

As usual the characters don't belong to me. It'd be nice to get reviews to know what you think about my story!

This story is a repost, I transferred it from my old account (mimoji) that I can't access anymore, and worked on it a bit.

Ignis Fatuus is the latin word for fen fire or will o' the wisp!

 **IGNIS FATUUS**

 _Fox Mulder's office, July 25th, 1999_

Mulder had just finished filling Scully in on their new case. He looked at her awaiting her verdict. When she didn't say anything he asked: "Doesn't it sound to you like the perfect X file? Scully, it's an ancient phenomenon so there must be some truth to it and we have the chance to solve it!" He sounded very enthusiastic.

"Mulder, as far as I'm concerned it could also be lights put out by people, you know, human beings, to rob the visitors of the moor. And to make it look supernatural they also let some animals disappear," Scully sighed. Usually when Mulder had taken an interest there was not much she could do.

"Oh, Scully," he looked at her with his puppy eyes. "You're breaking my heart. Sometimes I get the feeling you just deny paranormal existence to spite me." Scully rolled her eyes. She was about to retort when the phone rang.

"Mulder," he answered it. "Yes, Scully and I are looking forward to the case."

Scully opened her mouth to protest but nothing came out.

"When?... Okay, we'll be ready, Sir." Mulder put down the phone and grinned at his partner.

"It was Skinner. We are to leave in three hours," he couldn't stop grinning.

"Mulder, you're impossible," Scully surrendered.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Dartmoor, England, July 26th, 1999_

Mulder and Scully met in front of their hotel rooms to have breakfast together. Afterwards they would meet up with Inspector Hayes of the local police, who would fill them in on the latest news about the case.

They sat in his office, listening to his words.

"To sum it up, in the last three weeks six people have disappeared. Two local and four tourists. Also two dogs and a cat are awol. One local managed to escape and he's still in hospital for treatment. Further almost all the wildlife left has left the moor. Is that correct?" Mulder asked the officer.

"Pretty much so," Hayes replied. "Something like that has happened here before, last time it was at the end of last century, in 1897 to be exact. Four locals and two sheep, three dogs and a cow disappeared without a trace in the moor. But there have been records about the phenomenon that date back to 1473."

"Now, who's the man who has been able to escape?" Scully chimed in.

"Jarryd Spencer, 17, he's currently in our town hospital. He suffered cuts and bruises that look like they could be from an animal attack, but we have no idea what kind of animal could have done it. And... he claims it was no animal."

Mulder gave Scully one of his I-told-you-so looks. Scully failed horribly trying not to look annoyed.

"Can we talk to Jarryd Spencer?" Mulder addressed Hayes.

"I think so," was the answer.

 **To be continued...**

 **AN: This story is complete and will be updated regularly. Reviews make my day.**


	2. Chapter 2

On the way to the hospital

"Scully, do you know what fen fires are?" Mulder inquired.

"I read it's probably gas that comes out of the moor and somehow go ignited," she replied.

"Yeah, but did you know some people believe it's the lost souls of children?" her partner informed her enthusiastically.

Scully gave Mulder one of her famous looks. "Mulderrrrr...," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "And what good does it do them to lure innocent people to their deaths?"

Mulder shrugged. "Others say it's the souls of suicide and homicide victims as well as murderers," he added gloomily.

"Oh, and the latter have reason to still go on a killing spree?" Scully's tone took on a mocking note. Mulder looked hurt.

"Look, Mulder," Scully spoke, "it's probably natural causes for the lights and those people were just unfortunate to get lost in the moor."

Mulder looked at her sticking his lips out, pouting. Then he shook his head. "No, Scully, I can feel it's nothing of that sort."

"Feel? Which mark on the Mulder-scale?," she laughed.

From his reaction she could tell it home. "Mulder, I'm sorry. I shouldn't've..."

"It's okay, Scully. I'm used to this – just not from you." He thought about sulking but he knew inside she really hadn't meant it like that. So he gave her a conciliable smile.

"So... what is it that makes you have that feeling, Mulder?" Scully asked then to make up for her faux-pas.

"Well... the officer said that Jarryd Spencer claims that whatever attacked him wasn't an animal. Adding to that, what creatures live in a moor that can attack people?" It was obviously meant as a challenge for her.

"Err...," she was thinking. "I don't really know, birds? Rodents?" She felt a bit lost. Animals and their habitat were not really her piece of cake.

"Birds, insects, horses...," Mulder started, "lizards, adders, cattle and sheep. Dragonflies, rodents, sometimes foxes and owls, fish and frogs," he finished his list. "Anything sound to you like they can let people disappear or leave wounds as officer Hayes described?"

"Not really," Scully mused. "Maybe adders, or foxes," she grinned.

"Adders usually don't get much bigger than 60cm of length, and foxes, well, only if they have rabies, but as you might be aware, the UK is rabies-free."

Scully was thinking. Mulder smiled and then continued. "I only forgot to mention one other animal," Scully looked at him expectantly. "Hounds," Mulder said with an eerie tone in his voice.

"Hounds?" Scully repeated with a frown.

"Yes, Scully... never heard of the Hound of the Baskervilles? That was right here," Mulder tried to hide his smirk.

Scully had been gaping at him open-mouthed but when he mentioned the Baskervilles, she closed her mouth, blowing up her cheeks and then letting the air out noisily.

"Mulder, if I want to have my leg pulled, I'll do it myself." Mulder snorted with laughter.

"Gotcha, Scully." He offered a lopsided grin.

"No you didn't."

"Oh yes, I did."

Scully decided to leave him his opinion. She was going to get him back - sometime later, and it would be goooood, that she promised herself.

In the meantime they had arrived at the hospital and walked to the information desk to find out where they could find Jarryd Spencer.

They had to climb up to the second level and knocked at his door.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

"Jarryd Spencer?" Mulder asked when he and Scully entered the young man's hospital room.

The young man nodded, sitting on his bed. On a chair next to him sat a woman. Probably his mother, Mulder thought.

"I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI, and this is my partner Special Agent Dana Scully," Mulder introduced them.

"I know," Jarryd Spencer replied. "Mr. Hayes has told me you'd come. This is my mother, Jennifer Spencer."

Mrs. Spencer stood to greet the two agents.

"Jarryd, we would like to talk to you about what happened. Preferably alone – no offense meant, Mrs. Spencer," he addressed her.

"That's okay, I had figured it like this and if Jarryd is okay with it, I'll just go and grab a bite to eat for myself," she looked at her son who nodded his agreement.

After she left the room, Scully and Mulder pulled the chairs up to the bed and sat down.

"Well, Jarryd," Scully started, "can you tell us anything about the incident in the moor, when you were attacked? Did you see anybody?"

"As you might know it was dark, but it was also full moon, so it was not pitch black," Jarryd started. "I had been going for a walk with my dog, Jetter, when he suddenly ran off. I shouted at him to come back, but he was chasing after something that looked like a light, a fen fire." He stopped.

"When I caught up with him he was barking at the thing. I... I don't know how to describe it. It wasn't big, maybe up to my waist. Looked like... a gnome or something of that sort, but instead of hair, well, the hair was made of fire."

Mulder cast a content look at Scully who chose to ignore him.

"Go on," she encouraged Jarryd.

He swallowed briefly, then continued. "The skin looked greenish, but like jelly. I mean, not like our skin, but it was almost like you could see through it, like... jelly. I was standing there, unable to move, it was like a shock. I mean, you hear all the stories, but you think it's just that... a story."

Jarryd stopped an had a sip of soda, which was by his bedside. He was looking serious and took a deep breath before he continued.

"Next thing I remember is that all of a sudden Jetter stopped barking, that thing blew up to about 7 feet of hight, threw Jetter 40 yards into the moor then turned to me. I was frightened out of my wits and just started running, but that thing, it was like it could fly. I was running and then it was in front of me, arms with terrible claws swinging at me. It caught me on the arm and chest but somehow misjudged the situation and I could run on."

He looked at Mulder and Scully briefly, as if to make sure they were listening and believing him.

"I don't know which direction I was running... it caught my ankles, I fell, rushed up and kept on running. I don't remember much more, but when I was out of breath, ready to give up, it was gone. I looked around and saw a house not far away from where I was. I managed to get there and then I blacked out. That's all I can tell you."

There were some minutes where nobody spoke. Mulder's mind was working already on what could be done next, how to process the gained information.

"Thank you, Jarryd," Scully smiled. "We appreciate you telling us everything. Now, if there's still something else that you might remember, give us a call. Officer Hayes will know how to reach us. Are you going to be okay now or should we wait till your mother is back?"

"She'll be waiting outside already, I think. No, I'll be okay," he replied.

"Okay," Scully acknowledged. She and Mulder got up to leave. They were almost by the door when Mulder turned around.

"Jarryd, do you know what happened to Jetter?" he asked.

Jarryd shook his head no. "I didn't see any more of him and my mother says he hasn't returned home yet," he replied sadly.

"We'll find out what happened to him," Mulder assured him.

"Thank you," Jarryd's voice was a mere whisper.

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

At the hotel

"What do you say now, Scully?" Mulder asked with a smirk on his face.

"What can I say? The boy was in shock, Mulder. He might just have imagined what he claims he saw." Scully was getting tired of Mulder's constant attempts to convince her of paranormal activities.

It did sound weird to her, but of course, she being herself, would first try explaining everything on a scientific background. Only, and only if that would lead to no result, she would give in to agreeing with her partner. She knew that there were paranormal happenings. She knew that by now, after working with Fox Mulder for several years. And still she refused to immediately shift everything that looked inexplicable at first sight in the category of paranormal activities.

"Come on, Scully. You don't really believe that, do you?" Mulder jested. "And anyway, we're about to find out for ourselves."

"What do you mean we're going to find out?" Scully asked slightly alarmed.

"We're going in the moor tonight," Mulder simply stated.

"Mulder, are you out of your mind? Just because I think it's nothing paranormal doesn't mean that nothing is going on there," she exclaimed exasperated.

"But I hope something will be going on," Mulder insisted like a stubborn child. "And... we won't be alone. I've asked Officer Hayes and he'll give us some of his people as backup."

"Very reassuring, Mulder." Scully shook her head, knowing she just wouldn't be able to talk him out of it.

"So if you don't mind Scully, lets go grab a bite to eat and then we can chase will-'o-the-wisps," he flashed her a broad smile which seemed to melt away all her resistance.

"Ok, let's go," she resigned with a sigh, and off they were.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The moor

Mulder parked the rental car on the big parking lot right on the edge of the moor, close to the house where Jarryd Spencer had found help after his ordeal.

As the agents left the car and met up with four local police officers, it was getting dark. Mulder checked his watch, it was just after 10pm.

"Agent Mulder? I'm Daniel Vaughan. We know about where that boy had the encounter with that thing so we're going to lead you there. Do you have flashlights?" The officer raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah, we're all set," Mulder replied.

They followed the officers' lead and walked for about fifteen minutes. With every step they took it was getting darker. After a few minutes fog started to build out of nowhere.

"We better stick close together," Vaughan said.

The light of the moon was dipping the moor in an eerie perspective. Darkness, fog, moonlight, the atmosphere was getting tense.

"Mulder," Scully almost whispered as if she did not want to disturb the silence. "Mulder have you noticed that since a couple of minutes ago there are no more animal sounds audible? No crickets, no birds... nothing."

"Maybe they all went to sleep," Mulder just shrugged.

"Very funny," Scully growled and wondered why she was even bothering to tell him her observations.

Two minutes later Vaughan turned to face them. "This is the spot where he must have seen it. So what do you want to do next?"

"Observe," Mulder stated flatly.

They all looked about trying to pierce the fog and trying to see what could not be seen.

"Mulder, what's that over there?" Scully asked and grabbed Mulder by his arm.

Mulder turned around looking into the direction Scully was pointing in. He could make out a dim light, vague... but he was sure he saw it. He must be seeing it, if even Scully saw it.

Then the light disappeared. With a look at Scully Mulder slowly took a few steps in the direction where they had seen the light.

"Mulder... we must stay together," Scully called after him. She was reluctant to leave the group, but she also couldn't let him go alone.

"I can see it again," she heard Mulder's hushed voice. "It's starting to run." And with that Mulder began to run after it.

"Mulder... wait up," Scully called in vain. He ran and Scully tried to keep up with him.

After a minute she had to stop. She had no idea where he had gone. She strained her ears trying to pick up sounds, but heard nothing.

"Mulder?" she called again. No reply.

"MULDER!"

 **TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

Scully sighed and tried to make out footprints in the light of her flashlight but it was difficult to see anything through the fog. Slowly she kept walking in the direction she believed Mulder disappeared into.

All of a sudden she stopped dead in her tracks. Mere inches from her a dark figure emerged from the fog. Scully reached for her gun when the figure moved but then she saw who it was.

"Mulder," she breathed. Her pulse was racing from all the adrenaline. "You gave me a fright. What happened?"

"I lost it," he just said. "It disappeared into nothing." He almost sounded disappointed. "Where are the others?" he then asked.

"I don't know. They didn't follow me. I guess they're still where we left them," Scully shrugged.

"Gosh, we were supposed to stay together," Mulder muttered.

"Mulder, it was you who ran off, not them," Scully reminded him. Mulder looked as if that didn't bother him.

"Now what do we do?" Scully asked.

"Observe," Mulder replied with a grin.

"I give up, Mulder. You're incorrigible," Scully didn't know whether to be angry or not. He cast her a disarming smile which then faded to make space for a focused stare in the distance.

"What's it?" Scully asked turning her head to look where he was looking.

"There it is again," Mulder pointed directly behind Scully. When she fully turned around she saw about ten feet from her a dim light in the fog.

Mulder carefully approached it, hand by his gun. Instantly the light began moving again.

"Mulder, don't...," Scully screamed, but he was already charging after it. Here we go again, Scully thought dourly.

She followed him once more but couldn't keep up as before. Suddenly she found herself on the floor, pain shooting through her ankle.

Gee, she thought. The right time and place to trip and twist an ankle. She probed around her foot and determined it was only sprained. Yet, it was not helping her situation. She was in the middle of the moor, they must be approaching midnight, Mulder was chasing after mysterious lights and the rest of the group were who knows where.

"Great," she muttered through clenched teeth. She was wondering what to do next when she heard footsteps coming closer.

To be ready for anything she drew her gun pointing into the direction the steps were coming from. Out of the mist Mulder appeared.

"Hey Scully, it' just me," he said quickly when he saw Scully's gun in his face.

"So I see," she put the gun away. "Did you lose it again?"

"No, I lost you so I let it run," he remarked. "What happened?" He pointed at her foot which she was still rubbing gingerly.

"I tripped over a root or something and twisted my ankle in the process," the redhead explained.

"Can you walk?" Mulder sounded concerned.

"I think so," she replied and grabbed his hand, which he offered her to help her up.

"How does it feel when you put weight on it?" Mulder queried but Scully just stared at something behind him.

"Scully?" he asked, looking in her face. She couldn't speak, just pointed at something behind Mulder's back. Slowly he turned around to see a tiny figure with fire-like hair. In an instant he drew his gun, positioning himself exactly between the thing and his partner. He didn't know if the gun would do him any good, but it was worth trying it, if needed.

"Scully," he hissed. "Walk. Run if you can but just get away."

"I'm not leaving without you," she denied his wish.

"Scully, I'm not asking you twice. R U N!"

In the exact same instant the figure seemed to explode and suddenly was almost twice Mulder's height, with clawed hands reaching out for him. Out of reflex he pulled the trigger on his gun but nothing happened. The moment the shot rang out Scully sprung to life and started running. She ran for a couple of minutes, not feeling her foot or anything else before stopping again. The agent looked back to where she came from. Everything was quiet. Nothing was visible to her eyes.

"Mulder?" she called, but never got a reply.


	6. Chapter 6

Scully was standing there, trying to catch her breath. Should she go back? What if Mulder needed help?

She took a deep breath and decided to go look for him. She ignored her throbbing foot and fumbled with her flashlight. Then she slowly made her way back, ready for anything that could happen, flashlight in one hand, her gun in the other.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Mulder stumbled a few steps back. The fact that his bullet had no effect on the creature – was that really what people called a will-'o-the-wisp? – came a bit as a shock to him. If bullets had no effect, what did?

The creature seemed to be waiting for his next move. It stood there, unmoving, and since it had enlarged its size he could now see that not only the hair of it was made of fire, all the rest as well.

The realisation of this stunned him somewhat. Fire, the magic word that made Fox Mulder panic. He felt like he was rooted to the spot but he sprang to live again when the creature made a move towards him again.

He turned to run to get some distance in between them, but as soon as he turned and took a few steps he had to stop, because the creature somehow had managed to get in front of him.

Mulder's mind was reeling as was trying to figure out his next move. Again the creature moved first, this time jumping right at Mulder pulling him to the ground.

Mulder could feel the weight that pinned him down, funny enough he didn't get burned. Actually the creature felt quite cold. What didn't feel cold was his side. It felt like it was on fire. He looked down and saw his shirt torn and bloody.

With an effort he managed to get out of the creature's grip stumbling more than running away from it. He tripped and fell, his hand touching water.

Water, he thought. What could be of better use to fight fire than water? He turned around, half sitting, half lying, his hand in the cold water.

The creature again charged at him and Mulder splashed as much water on it as he could. He heard a hissing sound, almost as if water is dripping on the hot stove, evaporating almost before it hit. But the hissing came from the creature's mouth. It seemed to be in pain.

It works, Mulder thought frantically and started splashing more water on it. The hissing intensified and Mulder got so caught up in splashing water, he was sitting on his haunches, using both hands to shovel water at the creature.

All at once the creature let out an eerie cry and exploded into nothing. The force of the explosion let Mulder stumble several yards backwards then fall to the ground.

He was lying motionless, breathing hard. It was difficult to take in what happened but the creature had disappeared.

Mulder didn't know how long he had been lying there, trying to gather his thoughts when he heard someone calling him.

"Mulder? – Mulder, where are you? Answer me!"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Scully had been walking for a minute or two when she heard a hissing sound coming from somewhere in front of her. But she couldn't quite figure out what caused it.

Carefully she walked on, nerves on edge. Only a few steps later the hissing grew louder and finally culminated in something Scully didn't know how to discribe. A howl? A scream? At any rate, it was not human.

"Mulder," she whispered and quickened her steps a bit. After another minute she started calling for him louder.

"Mulder? – Mulder, where are you? Answer me!"

She got no reply but instead in the flare of her flashlight she saw the outline of a person lying on the ground.

"Mulder?" she called again. The person started moving, sitting up. It is him, she thought happily. Rushing the last couple of steps she knelt by his side.

"Hi Scully," he mustered a grin at her.

"Mulder, are you alright?" Scully just couldn't understand how he had the nerve to grin.

"I'm fine, just let me get up."

"What happened to the thing, Mulder?" Scully asked when she noticed it had gone.

"Evaporated, I believe," Mulder stated. "I found out it..."

"Mulder, you're bleeding," Scully interrupted him, pointing at his torn shirt.

"I know, it's just a scratch. It doesn't even hurt," he played it down. "Scully, the fen fire is after all fire and I got across some water which was way more effective than my gun," the agent finished what he had started before his partner had interrupted him.

But Scully wasn't even listening to him. "Let me have a look," she said, starting to unbutton his shirt.

"Scully, I said it's just a scratch. Let's rather find a way out of here. We don't know if there's more of that things," Mulder felt a bit uncomfortable about her fussing.

Scully looked in his eyes. "Maybe you're right, but one look won't take a sec," she insisted.

He sighed and thought that it would be better to comply before she'd make a big scene. So he unbuttoned the rest of his shirt and Scully used her flashlight to get a good view on the wound. To her it looked like scratches made with long sharp fingernails, but she was glad to see he was right, it was just scratches.

Satisfied she told him to button up and soon they were trying to find a way out of the moor.

It wasn't before long that Mulder stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's it?" Scully asked.

"Over there," Mulder nodded to one side. Scully squinted her eyes, but then she saw what he meant and her eyes grew wide.

"They've found us." Mulder kept his voice low. "We must find a waterhole, quickly!"

In the distance, several dim lights could be seen, closing in on the two agents.


	7. Chapter 7

Mulder grabbed Scully's hand and started pulling her along, his other hand moving the flashlight over the ground, his eyes searching for the reflection of water in the light.

Scully let herself being dragged after him, a bit confused still about what he wanted with water. I really should start listening to him sometimes, she scolded herself. She tried to recall what he had said earlier, then it came to her. Water, of course!

Scully looked around and noticed the lights came closer to them.

"Mulder, hurry up, please!" she whispered to him. He didn't reply, eyes busy searching for evidence of water.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Meanwhile Daniel Vaughan and his fellow companions had – after the two FBI agents had run off chasing – not seen any other evidence of a fen fire, yet one of them, Randall Owens, stumbled over something that reacted with a howl which gave all of them a fright.

In next to nothing all the flashlights were on Owens and the thing he'd stumbled over.

"It's a dog," Vaughan said, somewhat surprised.

"Could it be the dog of that boy?" Owens asked.

"I'm not sure. We didn't get a word on how that dog looks. But look, his leg is injured, it could be him."

After a bit of contemplating they decided they should take the dog with them in any case. The dog itself had not made any sort of an aggressive move to either of them. He must be used to humans. Yet, they couldn't do much right away. The fog was too dense, and they still didn't have a clue of what had happened to the two agents.

They kept observing their surroundings when they all heard the hissing growl of the fen fire, evaporating into thin air.

"What was that?" Lockwood, the youngest one of the group asked, the fear evident in his voice.

"No idea," the others mumbled towards each other. But it caused them to keep their eyes open even more.

After a while, when nothing further happened they decided to stay put until the fog cleared and they could move again safely.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

After frantically searching for water for a few minutes that seemed like hours Mulder's flashlight finally found what he was looking for. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that the lights were still closing in, the nearest being about 50 yards from them.

He let go of Scully's hand. Scully had recovered a bit from her fear wondering how they could now make use of the water. She turned around again and counted 3 fen fires. Not like they're going to hold still when we throw water at them, she thought grimly.

"Scully, take off your coat," Mulder demanded.

"What for?" she asked while taking it off, never leaving her eyes off the approaching lights.

"It's quite thick fabric, it won't soak so fast. I can use it to throw more water at them in one go," he explained.

She threw him her coat, seeing he had taken his shirt off in an effort to try and see if it could be used, but apparently it was in vain. He was standing there now, just in his pants and shoes, the scratches showing on his side in the moonlight, making an attempt to shovel water. To her relief it seemed to be working.

"Mulder, they're getting closer," Scully's voice was slightly trembling.

"Okay, get behind me," Mulder said, turning to face the fen fires.

Scully obeyed and then suddenly remembered the plastic bottle of water she had taken with. She didn't even know why she had taken it, but now she was glad.

Quickly she unscrewed the cap, holding it ready to spray. She stepped close to the water so she could refill it quickly.

The creatures were now only a few yards away but Mulder made no attempt yet to use his "weapon".

With a bang all three exploded to double their size and Scully took an involuntary step backwards. Mulder in turn seemed just to have waited for that moment, splashing the water onto them tirelessly.

Hissing could be heard all over, Scully for a moment thought she was standing right next to an old steam engine. Then she joined Mulder in his efforts to get all the water out of the hole onto the creatures.

To them it seemed like the minutes were dragging into hours until the three creatures finally, almost simultaneously, blew up into thin air with the characteristic explosion.

Both Scully and Mulder were flung a good few yards back, landing hard on the ground.

After a couple of seconds they both sat up, staring at each other.

"Look," Mulder said suddenly, "the fog is clearing." Indeed the moonlight was now sufficient to illuminate the whole area and let them find a way out of the moor.

"You're freezing, Mulder," Scully noticed.

"I'm okay," Mulder replied. "Just let's get out of here before the fog is back."

A deafening growl made them both freeze in their tracks. Turning around they saw one of the creatures, but it was way bigger than the rest. It was reaching about 12 feet into the night sky, approaching with big fast steps, anger obvious on its face.

"Oh shit," Mulder gasped, grabbing Scully's hand again and they both started running as fast as their feet would carry them, in the direction away from the beast and where they thought safety was waiting.


	8. Chapter 8

While they were running as fast as they could, the dawning of the day made it easier for them to find a safe path. And easier to look for a safe place.

But the giant fen fire knew how to deal with it. It popped up at a convenient spot to direct the run of the agents to where it wanted them – a dead end.

Mulder and Scully had to stop abruptly when they were surrounded by a small winding stream – too wide to jump over.

"Mulder, why is this one so tall?" Scully asked when she caught her breath.

Mulder shrugged. "I think I read that they feed on fear," he replied.

"I guess we're scared badly now," Scully managed to chuckle. "What are we going to do now?"

Mulder's mind was working overtime. One could almost see it working.

Scully never took her eyes off the fen fire as it was closing in on them. She gripped Mulder's hand tightly and if he weren't so busy thinking about an escape route he'd have shouted in pain from her grip. Then a smile flickered in his eyes and he spoke.

"Scully, it thinks it has us trapped yet it trapped itself." Scully just looked at him in confusion. "We must try making it lunge at us," Mulder elaborated.

"WHAT?" Scully gasped horrified. She had no desire to be jumped by that thing.

"Yeah, and we must stand close to the water. When it lunges we move out of the way and let its momentum carry it into the water."

"Sounds too easy, Mulder," Scully muttered.

"Yep, but it might work. At least it's worth a try."

Before Scully could reply the fen fire sprang into action and left them no time to think much about what to do. They backed up as far as possible then split up to the sides.

Yet their plan didn't work so well. The fen fire swerved after Scully pushing her down.

Mulder reacted in a second and charged the fen fire shoving it in the back. He almost succeeded in pushing it over the edge into the water. At least it released Scully and turned on Mulder instead.

Mulder retreated slowly, knowing the stream was right behind him. He saw Scully get to her feet, bracing herself, her blouse torn and slightly bloody. She followed the fen fire which didn't pay any attention to her.

In the instant the fen fire charged at Mulder, Scully charged at the fen fire, shoving it with all her might.

With an inhuman growl the fen fire swayed, trying to keep the balance without succeeding. Before it tumbled into the stream it managed to lash out at Mulder, who stood rooted to the spot, watching almost in awe what was happening. It caught him with its claws on his right shoulder. Then with an almighty hiss, it dissolved in the water.

The power of the lash brought Mulder down on his knees, his arm hanging down, blood running along it.

"Are you okay, Mulder?" Scully asked, kneeling by him. He nodded.

"Just another scratch. What about you?" He pointed at her arms that were also bleeding.

"Not too bad I think." Scully smiled.

Out of the blue Mulder grabbed Scully in a tight hug. "I'm glad about that," he whispered in her ear. Then he looked down, seeing that their blood was mixing during the hug.

"Hey, Scully, we're now blood brothers," he joked. Scully looked down and laughed.

"Mulder, for that the blood IN our veins had to mix, not the one that's running out."

"I know, but it's a nice idea," Mulder said.

Before they could continue this conversation they were startled by somebody calling.

"Hello?"

They let go of each other turning into the direction the call came from. It was Vaughan and his company that also went on their way back out of the moor.

"What happened here? We heard a loud noise and came as fast as we could. Are you okay?" he said, pointing out their injuries.

"We're fine," Mulder replied. "Just let's get out of here and I'll tell you about everything."

"What's that?" Scully had noticed the bundle one of the others was carrying.

"It's that dog of the boy," Vaughan explained.

"Told you we'd find it," Mulder winked at Scully.

"We didn't, Mulder. They did," she corrected him.

"All the same to the boy... as long as he has him back."


	9. Chapter 9

Mulder was about to enter the car on the driving side, when he felt Scully's hand hold him back.

"I'll drive," she said in a tone that didn't allow any resistance.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Your shoulder has been shredded and I want it wrapped up professionally, so we'll have to go to the ER to get ourselves cleaned up."

"But you're also injured, Scully," he lifted his foot to put it in the car.

"Mulder, I only have minor scratches on my arms."

"Yeah, but you yourself saw that I also have only a scratch," he replied stubbornly.

"On your chest, yes. But your shoulder is bleeding a lot more and it must be hurting like hell. Fine, I bandaged it with whatever, but still... I'LL DRIVE!" Scully insisted.

"Fine," Mulder muttered, pulling his foot out again handing her the keys. Sometimes Scully could be just as pig headed as himself. "You're just scared I wouldn't drive to the ER but to the hotel," he added.

"That as well, Mulder. Now, get in."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Dartmoor Hospital, July 27th, 1999, 5:16 a.m.

It had taken about 20 minutes to get themselves cleaned up and bandaged in the ER, and Mulder and Scully decided to go back to their hotel before returning later the day to meet Jarryd Spencer again. They would also still have to talk to Officer Hayes and his people to determine further procedure.

Just as they were about to leave the hospital, Jarryd Spencer crossed their way.

"Jarryd? What are you doing out here at this time?" Mulder asked in surprise.

"Nothing, I couldn't sleep so I snuck out to catch some fresh air," he replied. "What happened to you?" he asked when he noticed that Mulder had his right arm in a sling.

"Mulder decided to fight the fenfires," Scully explained. "Oh, and we found your dog... alive."

"You found Jetter? Where is he? How is he?" Jarryd was asking anxiously.

"He's fine, I think you'll be able to see him later on," Scully said, trying to settle him down. "For now I think it'd be better if you'd try sneaking back into your room," she wriggled her eyebrows.

"I'll do that," Jarryd confirmed and off he was.

"Come on, Mulder, let's go... we need to catch some sleep before the meeting with Hayes. It's scheduled for 11am." Scully grabbed Mulder by his left hand and pulled him along to the car.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

In the hotel Scully helped Mulder to get out of his clothes and while Mulder was taking a shower she made sure he had everything ready for afterwards. Then she went to her own room, also indulging in a refreshing shower.

When she was done and changed the urge to just lay down on the bed and sleep was too tempting, yet she resisted and made herself first check up on Mulder.

Entering his room she found he was already sleeping. He hadn't bothered to put his t-shirt on. He was laying on his stomach, slightly turned onto his left side, wearing only his boxers.

Scully smiled and tried covering him up with as much of the blanket as possible. Not an easy task since he was laying on top of it.

Back in her room, she just set her alarm and also went off to dreamland.


	10. Chapter 10

Hayes' office, 27th July, 1999, 11:02a.m.

Mulder and Scully were sitting in Hayes' office, waiting for him to be done with his phone call. Scully looked at Mulder, who seemed to be half asleep, still. Before Scully could make a remark to him about that, Hayes was done with his phone call and turned towards the agents.

"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder," he started. "I heard the report from my men first thing this morning, but it looks like you'll be able to tell me way more than them. I also saw the reports from the hospital, regarding your injuries. I do hope you both feel alright."

"We're just fine, Sir," Scully confirmed.

"So, before I go into detail I would like to know if we should be expecting any more of these incidents," Hayes inquired.

"Sir, that we can only say for sure after another night," Mulder replied.

"Another night?" Hayes asked.

"Yeah. Yesterday afternoon, before we went to the moor, I checked to find as much information about what has and had been going on here regarding fen fires, and I found that every century, in the last third of it, to be exact, at a certain constellation of all the planets towards each other, for one whole month during summer, meaning June, July or August, the fen fire phenomenon has drawn their victims," Mulder elaborated.

"So the next time it will happen will be between 2066 and 2100?" Hayes queried.

"Well, the month isn't over, yet," Mulder stated flatly.

"But I thought you'd managed to destroy them all."

"Sir, we don't know if it has been all of them," Scully chimed in.

"And to make sure nothing more happens this time is to keep the moor closed at night for the rest of the month OR to send some men in, armed with hose pipes and water tanks to search and destroy whatever fen fire they still might encounter. That could then also mean, it won't happen again – ever," Mulder continued.

Hayes rested his head in his hands, pondering what the agents had said.

"The moor is big," he then just said.

"Yes, but this phenomenon has only been reported from the part of the moor close to your town. So I believe for whatever reasons it is restricted to this area," Mulder told Hayes. Hayes stayed quiet for another moment. Then he spoke again.

"I think I'll take your advice. This afternoon I'll start placing officers all over this part of the moor, armed with water," he had to chuckle a bit at his remark. "Will you be there, too?"

"I'm sorry, Sir," Scully picked up, "but we've been ordered back and our flight is at 7 a.m. in the morning. I don't think we'd make the flight if we joined in."

"I see," Hayes nodded.

"But Scully, nobody said we have to be there all the time," Mulder said, "I mean, last night the whole thing started so around midnight, so, if there's nothing going on by 2 a. m. I think it'd be safe to say it's over and we would have all the time in the world to catch our flight." He beamed at her with one of his disarming smiles, that always made it hard for her to resist or in this case to contradict him.

"So I can count on you?" Hayes voice was full of hope.

Not taking his eyes off Scully, Mulder replied. "Yeah, we'll be there, Sir."

The hotel, 12:38pm

The whole drive back to the hotel Scully hadn't talked to Mulder. She was slightly angry at him for calling the shots without her consent. When they got the keys to their rooms she finally broke her silence.

"Mulder, if you really wanna go through with it there's two things I have to say: firstly, next time, ask me before you decide something like that and secondly: I hope you'll try getting some sleep before that and don't forget to be packed, else I'll just leave you here alone. So go listen to your pillow, you look like a ghost already."

"Only if you tuck me in, Scully," he smirked at her.

Scully sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she just shook her head and disappeared in her room. Mulder couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He liked to tease her like that. But he also knew she was right. He needed more sleep. So he set his alarm and just took off his shoes, falling onto the bed being in dreamland almost in an instant.

The moor, 11:24pm

Their car came to a stop on the now familiar parking lot. Scully emerged from the passenger side and walked straight up to Hayes and his people.

"Good to see you, agents," Hayes greeted them. "Most of my men are in position. We're just about to take ours now. Are you ready?"

"Sure," Scully replied while Mulder joined them.

They walked into the moor for about 10 minutes, then Hayes told his men to spread around. He was in constant contact with them via the walkie-talkie.

The minutes passed and turned into hours without anything happening. Every ten minutes Hayes contacted his men to get an update on the situation on their side. Everything was quiet.

At 2 am Mulder went to stand next to Scully. She looked like she was about to fall asleep while standing.

"Scully, didn't you get a nap?" he asked in mock surprise.

"I did, Mulder, but this lack of action is making me drowsy. Do you think we can call it a day now?"

"More like calling it a night, but yes, I think we can leave. I still have to pack my stuff, you know."

Scully gasped. She opened her mouth to tell him off but closed it again when she saw him laughing.

"Gotcha, Scully..."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time you'd do it last minute," she growled. In her mind she was vowing to herself she'd get him back for it.

Hayes walked over to them to tell them he'd withdraw his men now and together they returned to the parking lot.

At the edge of the moor Mulder turned and looked back and for a split second he thought he'd seen something. He was about to get Scully's attention to it, but it was gone. I probably imagined it, he thought to himself. No wonder after last night's events.

When the cars left the lot a small figure with fiery hair emerged from behind some bushes, staring at the departing cars...

THE END

AN: As I said, I wrote this story about a decade ago. I've tried to reduce the typos and minor mistakes but I kept it mainly the way I wrote back then. As I said, I do think my writing has evolved, and maybe, with the X-Files revival coming soon, I will write another XF fanfic. For now I'm busy with Supernatural :)


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